Office chairs have armrests attached to arms extending up from the frame of the chair. An armrest generally comprises an outer covering or skin and a foam interior filling. To provide additional support for the armrest, a bracket is generally inserted into the skin prior to filling the skin with foam. Once the bracket is inserted into the skin, the foam is blown into the armrest such that the foam fills the skin and fixes the position of the bracket within the skin. Generally, the skin is formed by injecting liquid polymer into a mold and allowing the liquid polymer to harden. A hole is then cut into the skin through which the bracket and foam can be inserted into the skin. The hole is cut in the underside of the skin through a recessed region that mates with the arm of the chair, thereby hiding the parts of the skin through which the bracket and foam are inserted. Such a configuration improves the aesthetic look of the armrest when it is installed on the chair.
The aforementioned manufacturing process has several disadvantages. First, the process uses liquid polymer material to create the skin, which may result in an unacceptable number of defective skins. Second, the process includes cutting a hole in the skin and removing material from the skin for the bracket to be inserted therein, which is an error-prone and time-consuming process. Finally, the process cannot reliably produce asymmetrical armrests, which contain brackets that are wider than the recessed region, because attempting to insert such brackets through the aforementioned hole frequently tears the skin, rendering it useless. Therefore, a need exists for an armrest manufacturing process that: (1) eliminates the use of liquid skin material; (2) eliminates the need to remove material from the skin to insert the bracket into the skin; and (3) produces an armrest with a bracket that is wider than the recessed region of the armrest without detracting from the overall aesthetic look of the armrest.